Vincentians ‘lost’ in TT

Many immigrants from St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) have virtually become “lost” in  Trinidad and Tobago, lacking formal documentation to operate in either their birthland, or their adopted country. The point was made by at least two Vincentian members of the public at a public consultation of the SVG National Constitution held Saturday at the University of the West Indies (UWI), St Augustine. The consultation was one of several held by the SVG Constitution Reform Commis-sion in both SVG and the SVG diaspora including USA, UK, Canada, and the Virgin Islands. Vendor Martin Johnson lamented that the consultation had not drawn more “roots Vincentians” in addition to the  many professionals attending. He recalled that having come to Trinidad as a child in 1966, and having been led to believe he had achieved residential status, he had later been told that he did not have this standing, and further he did not have a passport for either SVG or Trinidad and Tobago. Attorney Rudolph Martin also highlighted the plight of many Vincentians, saying: “Trinidad and Tobago has a large number of Vincentians who are lost. They have nothing bringing them together. They do not have a passport of SVG or Trinidad and Toba-go.”

He urged the Commission to call on the SVG government to set up a consultate here to assist such persons. Martin also urged that in any new Constitution, SVG drop the British Queen as its Head of State, saying the monarchy was a mockery for SVG. Martin said: “In England they don’t really care about West Indians. It’s a myth to believe England is our mother country. I would advocate we get rid of the monarchy as head of state and we have a presidency.” From the floor Dillon Bergin also supported the idea of SVG ditching the Queen as SVG Head of State. The two contributors differed however on the proposed Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as the region’s highest court of appeal to replace the British Privy Council. Martin said that despite the Caribbean having high calibre jurists, we simply were not ready for the CCJ. He said: “In the Court of Appeal now it is very rare you will get dissenting judgements. It’s always unanimous verdicts. We have men of integrity but we need men who are also philosophical, instead of following some old precedent.” But Bergin, while somewhat worried about the closeness of the judicial fraternity in the Caribbean, thought the region could produce an impartial CCJ and regional judiciary. The Commission is to report its consultations to the SVG Parliament in December.